


You Could've Asked

by Thecowardlylion2



Category: Barry (TV 2018)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Secret Relationship, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 08:21:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23468338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thecowardlylion2/pseuds/Thecowardlylion2
Summary: The members of the acting class are on the look out for clues as to who Barry's dating. However, they would have found out sooner if they'd just ask.-------Hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Barry Berkman/NoHo Hank
Comments: 18
Kudos: 128





	You Could've Asked

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic about Hank and Barry, as well as my first fic on AO3. So uhh, do with that what you will, and proceed accordingly ✌
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> This follows the timeline of the actual show VERY loosely. Set two years after Barry joins the acting class. I just really wanted to write something where Hank meets the actors. Also, while we're at it lets pretend Moss didn't die, yeah? She's not mentioned a whole lot, but still.

Barry never really thought to let the acting class in on much of his personal life. Obviously they would never find out about his past, what with Fuches and all. But there were aspects about his life that he hardly let up about. Sure he's been taking these classes for nearly 2 years, however, Barry was still yet to mention his boyfriend of over a year. 

Noho hank and Barry played a long game of useless pining since first meeting one another. Actually, most of that happened after the trying to kill one another, but still. The tip toeing eventually came to a stop, and they had finally gotten to a point in their relationship that was comfortable and not so fresh.

It wasn't that he didn't want them to know, it just never came up. He had mentioned once being interested in someone else, after Sally asked him out in the beginning. Since making things official though, nothings been mentioned. It had crossed his mind how difficult it would be to hide the fact that Hank belonged to the Chechen crime family. Maybe even suspicious to Moss, who could possibly be suspecting him of the crimes he had commited. He decided to put it all on the back burner after briefly mulling it over in his brain.

There was always the chance that someone in the class had already figured him out, but if they had no one had mentioned it to him.

\--------------------

The acting class, minus Barry, all were sat in the back of their usual bar.

"So, anyone else notice Barry rarely hangs with us anymore?" Sasha announced to the small group of friends.

A few thoughtfull looks and 'huhs' went around the table.

"Maybe he has other things he needs to do?" Eric offered.

Shaking her head Sally spoke up, "Bullshit, what could he possibly be doing every weekend?"

Eric shrugged, "He could have a hobby."

Natallie took a sip of her drink before throwing in her suggestion, "orrr, maybe he has a girlfriend?"

"If he does he never talks about her" Jermaine says.

"Or him," Eric adds. This provokes everyone to stop and think about the possibility of Barry having a boyfriend and not a girlfriend. "I mean, its not like any of us actually know his preferences, small talk isn't one of his strong suits."

"He did mention liking someone, back when we first met. How do we find out without making him totally uncomfortable?" Sally said.

"Does anyone know if he's ever around anyone outside of class?" Sasha said,  
"I've never seen him around anyone out of the ordinary at work, but he does talk to someone on the phone during break. Never listen in though."

"Well," Sally starts, "I guess we'll have to figure out what he's hiding then."

\-----------

Sasha sat behind the counter of Luluemon talking to a costumer about a pair of leggings that were in the wrong size than what she was looking for. She was being rather rude about it if you asked Sasha. "Let me just go look in the back ma'am." She said, knowing full well she was just gonna stand in the back long enough to fool the lady into thinking she was looking for the leggings.

When Sasha went to the back of the shop she hadn't realised someone else was back there. She quickly hid behind a stack of boxes when she saw it was Barry talking on the phone. 

"-oh sorry thought I heard something. Okay so a dozen eggs, wait didn't I just buy some? You used them ALL? What did you do? How many brownies were you attempting to make?" He pauses "...Oh, I see. Okay, anything else you want me to pick up?" A smile broke out on his face. "Brownie box mix, got it." Barry chuckled scribbling down on what seemed to be a grocery list. "Alright, I'll see you when I'm off work, love you." Barry hung up the phone, and Sasha decided now would be a good time to duck out to tell the lady they had no more size medium in that style legging.

After work Sasha would excitedly message the secret group chat that the acting class had to update them on what she discovered.

\-----------------------

A few days later in acting class everyone congregated behind the stage while Barry was talking to Gene in his office about a scene. 

"Right so he definitely has someone in his life, its just a matter of who it is." Jermaine remarks.

"Whoever it is, I think they live together, which means its probably serious as fuck." Sasha said, earning nods in agreement. 

So focused on the conversation they barely realised that Barry had just left the building.

"I did notice that he got dropped off this morning, maybe the same person came to pick him up." Sally mentioned.

"Didn't he just walk out the door?" Eric said, everyone looked around the circle before bee lining it to the door. They made it in time to see the bumper of a black car start down the road, unable to see the driver. The group of friends all left incredibly frustrated.  
\----------------

When the next class day came around, a few members of the group came early just to see if someone else would drop Barry off again. Except it was to no avail, although seeing Barry look weary as everyone peered at him by the door made for some laughs.

There was, however, something especially odd about Barry on this day. Which was pointed out by Eric. 

"Hey what's with your hoodie, its like way too fucking small." He said pointing to the sleeves that had to be rolled up in order for them to look like they fit a little.

Barry raised an eyebrow and looked down at the hoodie he had on. 'Oh shit' he thought 'this is DEFINATLY Hank's'. "Huh I hadn't realised I guess?" Barry ended up saying. The main issue was the length difference of the arms and torso, but he could zip it up just fine. Really though, its the brightest shade of blue-compared to what he usually had on. The obvious contrast was what he would expect someone to point out.

"How do you just not realise your hoodie doesnt fit if you bought it" Sally pushed.

Barry shrugged, "uhh, well its not mine, I just borrowed it, I was in a rush this morning to get my car back from the shop."

Everyone looked up as if another puzzle piece in their mystery had been found. Which it had...Technically.

"Wait so-" Eric started, but right when he did Gene walked in to announce that class had begun. 

\--------------------

Ever since the hoodie happenstance, not much had happened in the way of figuring out who Barry's significant other was. People had relatively quieted down about it after a few weeks.

The group chat with all of the members of the acting class, the not secret one, had been dinging Natallies phone with Brithday wishes to Barry all morning. They had originally tried talking him into having a party at some bar, but he said 'no' and that he had something planned-not going into any details.

During the day Natalie worked at a bakery that was ran by her mother and aunt. They sold mostly simple baked goods and what not, but they were also known for selling cakes for a reasonable price.

Putting her phone away, Natallie put her apron on and washed her hands before heading out to the front counter as she heard the bell at the front door chime. The man that walked in was someone she had seen every once and awhile. He normally came in to buy Babka, which she remembered because he didn't look like anyone else, really. He's an average height, with a plethora of tattoos, completely bald head and (what she assumed was) a Russian accent. She however could not remember his name for anything, but knew he was incredibly friendly-like a puppy.

"Hello there! How are you on this beautiful day? Crazy sunshine, right?" The man smiled at her as he got to the counter.

"I'm doing pretty alright, how can I help you today?" Natalie gave her best costumer voice.

"Ummm," The man looked around at the baked goods. When his eyes landed on the cake section his face lit up, "Ah! Perfect I am in need of cake, what is price range on these?"

Natalie walked over to the cake case, "well it depends, they run from about 30-50 dollars each." she explained.

He raised a brow and looked at the cakes, "wow! You could sell these, double the cost no doubt." The man said, waving a hand towards the case.

Chuckleing at the comment Natalie agreed, they could if they wanted too honestly. "Do you need the cake for a special occasion?" She wondered.

The man nodded, "Oh boy, today is the boyfriends birthday. He said no cake, but I say he's real big buzzkill. So I try to make cake, but turns out I am quite shit at baking. Now I am here." He said while further inspecting each cake. "Also used every egg in house, again. boyfriend has sent me article on benefits to farming chickens, chickens! Such a goofball." He shook his head, grinning.

"You two sound really cute, one of my friends is actually turning 42 today." She said casually.

"What, oh my god, so is my boyfriend! That's crazy man, real crazy." He said, sounding astonished. "I think I will go with the chocolate and sprinkles, now THAT is festive." 

Natalie went and took the cake from the case and left to box it, before going to the cash register, "alright your total for today is $35." 

The man pulled out his wallet and handed her some cash, "thank you for help, you are very kind. Keep change," he grabbed the box and made his way out "have fun with your friend on this day!"

"Nah, he doesn't want to go out" Natalie waved a hand.

"Neither does my boyfriend! How wild, am I right?" The man said, backing out of the door and saying goodbye.

Not thinking much of the encounter, Natalie returned to her duties elsewhere.

It was only later that day when she mentioned it to Sasha, that they realised how weirdly coincidental it was. What are the odds?

\----------------

One night after rehersal, Sally was the last person to leave the building besides Gene. If she was being honest, she was pretty pissed off. One of her main scenes was supposed to be with Barry, who just totally ditched class with no warning. She tried texting him but he didn't answer. 

Sally grabbed her purse and script and started out the door. Right when she opened it though she was met by a man about to knock on the door, looking rather distressed.

"Oh, um, hi, just checking, Barry Berkman wouldn't happen to still be here, would he?" The man asked.

The first thing Sally noticed beside his upset expression, was his...Russian? Accent.

"I'm sorry who are you?" She questioned.

"Oh, right, I'm Hank. I'm sorry, I don't mean to show unannounced, I am worried sick." He-Hank said with a heavy sigh.

"Is everything okay? He's not in trouble is he?" Sally asked 'what in the world is going on?' She thought.

Sticking his hands in his jacket pockets, Hank shook his head in exasperation. "Well, Bullshit uncle calls out of blue. Barry calls me freaking out, and before I am home he is gone. I hoped maybe he would be here, but guess not."

Stunned by the response a few thoughts go through her head. 1. That she was pretty sure this was Barry's boyfriend and 2. This sounded pretty serious. "Have you called the cops or anything?"

Getting an alarmed look on his face Hank shook his head, "I still have this half of the city to look, maybe after if I can't find him." Hank knew he wasn't gonna go to the police when he could probably get some guys to find him much quicker.

Sally gave it a bit of thought before responding, "hey how about I help you look? I can stroll through this neighborhood and the next one, tell you if I see him?"

Hank's face lit up at the offer "that would be fantastic, really. We can exchange numbers, here." He pulled out his phone and so did she to do just that. "I apologize for major inconvenience, its been long time since something like this happened-not as acclimated as before, ya'know?"

"He would just disappear like this?" Sally remarked.

He nodded and continued, "don't tell him I said this, but this uncle is grade A dirtbag. Real piece of shit. Always getting in way. Barry would not stay gone this long, but I would usually find him at beach." Hank told her as they headed to their respective cars, when it dawned on him and he stopped. "Oh my fucking god, the beach! Sweet baby Jesus how could I forget about the beach." He said before jogging to his car and hopping in.

Sally wasn't like, 100% sure how to process all of this information, instead she just decided to follow Hank to the beach just in case Barry wasn't there. Also she was just curious about the whole situation.

Getting in her car she followed Hank's at a reasonable distance. This leading them straight to the beach side, a little bit away from the board walk. Still keeping a distance she parked a handful of parking spaces away from where Hank parked.

Even though it was dark out, the area was still lit up by street lights lining the beach side, as well as the bright board walk to the far right of where they were.  
Hank got out of his car. Making his way onto the beach as fast as he could. That's when Sally noticed the small dejected outline of someone sitting on the beach, facing the ocean.

When Hank made it to the figure he glanced down, than dropped to his knees in order to be level enough to hold the figure. The figure, she assumes was Barry, leaned his head into Hanks chest and his shoulders began to shake.

She figured she would use this time to head out, since this seemed to be a private moment. 

Later that night she messaged the group to tell them about meeting Hank (she made sure to leave out anything too personal). 

\----------------------

"Okay but how do you know for sure that Hank is his boyfriend?" Jermaine mentioned a few days later, while out for lunch with Sally, Sasha, Natalie, Eric and Nick. The six of them had been particularly stressed out about their play that was premiering tomorrow night.

Nick nodded his head in agreement, "yeah, assuming the guy from the bakery isn't this Hank guy. He could be a relative, or just a friends."

"I don't know guys, this all seems way too coincidental. Even the egg thing from Barry's phone call at Luluemon, and the guy from the bakery, its so fucking specific." Eric spoke up. 

Sally nodded, "yeah, and you guys should have seen this Hank guy, he was like, SO upset." Sally said between bites of the sandwich she was eating. "I got his number too, we could potentially ask him straight up."

"I would argue that that's a little like going behind Barry's back." Sasha said.

"Why don't we just, oh I don't know, ask Barry then?" Jermaine said, matter of factly.

Mulling over that idea between one another, figuring they probably should have just done that in the beginning-they all came to a conclusion.

"Okay," Natalie began, "after the play tomorrow, we ask him. That way the stress of the show will be out of the way."

Everyone nodded. "Great, so enough of that, does anyone else want to order more fries?" Eric said, before getting up to order more fries after getting a resounding 'yes' from the table.

\---------------------

The energy before the play was to begin, could only be described as completely chaotic. Costumes were frantically being thrown on, makeup was scattered on counter tops and scripts were being skimmed through. Confronting Barry about his relationship had been put on the back burner, for the moment.

During the chaos, Sally and Barry were off to stage right, to practice their scene together. She found this incredibly frustrating, however, because Barry was jittering like crazy. 

"Hey man, its not that hard, get it together." Sally told him after he messed up for the second time in a row.

Barry ran a hand through his hair, "I know I'm just, I don't know, nervous I guess." He said while glancing at the crowd anxiously.

Looking out at the crowd Sally shook her head, "there aren't anymore people than usual, is it the script? I don't get it." She said.

"Uh," Barry hesitated, "I've just never had anyone I know come to a show is all."

Sally nodded, "okay well, I need to get the rest of my constume on. So just, I dont know, practice a few more times." Sally said, then scurried behind the stage.

She was getting the last piece of her costume on, when Sasha and Natalie gathered the small group invested in the conspiracy of Barry's love life. 

"Guys, you gotta fucking see this, be quiet about it though" Natalie said, as they lead them to stage left behind the curtain to watch Barry on the other half of the stage.

Barry was already a pretty shifty person, but tonight that was ten fold. He kept looking out at the crowd from where he was every few seconds, then pacing back and forth. 

"What the fuck is he on?" Eric whispered

Sasha shrugged, "We don't know, but we think he's waiting for someone."

"He did mention something about someone coming tonight, but didn't go into detail, so I didn't push." Sally said.

They all continued to watch intently behind the curtain, when the moment finally came.

Right in the middle of Barry's freak out he stopped in his tracks and his entire face relaxed, a small smile spreading on his lips. Everyone followed his gaze to the front door, where lo and behold, Hank was. Holding a bouquet of colorful flowers.

"That's the guy from the bakery !" Natalie whisper shouted.

"Well thats Hank, so our suspicions were correct." Sally informed.

Hank couldn't actually see Barry from where he was standing, since there was a curtain blocking him. He did however see the group on the other side of the stage and waved to get their attention. He then mouthed at them "where's Barry?" pointing at the bouquet of flowers. 

All of them pointed to the other end of the stage at Barry who's eyes became as big as saucers. In which Hank pointed at the small set of stairs that led to where Barry was, like "can I use these?" they all nodded and watched as he went up the stairs and turned behind the curtains.

Barry took a couple steps back in order to not collide into Hank, who had his arms wrapped around Barry's neck the moment he saw him. Barry immediately responded by wrapping his arms around Hank's waste, lifting him up a bit in the process, with a giant grin on his face.

"Oh. My. Fucking. God. That is so cute!" Eric said excitedly.

Barry eventually let him down and said something to him, but no one could really hear anything. Hank brought the bouquet up to Barry's view, who threw his head back with a laugh. He accepted the flowers then leaned down to press a kiss to Hanks lips. 

When they separated Hank was saying something while pointing at the group of actors just blatantly standing there, now cooing at them. Barry's eyes went wide again, before shoving his face into Hanks shoulder, Hank was patting his back and laughing.

"We've been caught!" Nick quietly exclaimed.

"Yeah, no shit man." Jermaine responded, chuckling.

Right at that moment, Gene showed up behind them all, "what is going on, come on people, get backstage." He shooed them.

\---------------------

The play went relatively okay, with only a few people messing up their lines. It wasn't exactly a standing ovation type of performance (although Hank did stand up to cheer when they did their bow, which didn't go unnoticed), but people didn't not clap so that's a plus. 

After everyone dispersed to say hi to relatives and talk to potential employers, Hank met up with Barry backstage.

"You did so good! You were totally killing it, like seriously who even are you Brad Pitt? " Hank said enthusiastically, leaning up to peck him on the lips.

Barry threw an arm around him as they started to leave, "aww, the faith you have in my acting abilities," he said and they both laughed, "seriously though, I felt like throwing up for a minute there." He added.

Hank looked up at him concerned as he leaned into his side, "well you better be up for badass cookies I made, seriously these ones are the bomb."

Giving Hank a kiss on the temple, they passed the threshold of the dressing room they were currently in, "I don't know what you're talking about, everything you bake tastes fine," Barry said.

"Oh total bullshit." Hank said, poking his boyfriend in the side as they continued to laugh.

Right before they could leave the building they were stopped by the other actors.

"Not so fast!" Sasha announced, "Barry, you gotta introduce us to your boyfriend!" She said with mild sense of offendedness.

They both turned to face toward the group who have been waiting to meet Hank for weeks now, "Right, uhh, guys this is my boyfriend Hank," he said gesturing towards Hank.

"Or as Freddie Mercury would put, I am Good Old Fashion Lover Boy," Hank added.

Barry smiled and rolled his eyes, "and Hank this is Sasha, Nick, Eric, Sally, Jermaine and Natalie." He continued.

Hank waved at them, "so nice to finally meet all of you, its been long time coming. I have met a couple of you already though."

"Yeah we were wondering why we hadn't heard about you till now, how long have you been together?" Eric asked

Everyone looked between the two of them, who didn't really know how to answer that lightly. 'Well you see the acting teacher is dating a cop who has been on both of our individual tails, so we figured being associated together wasn't gonna end well' is what they were thinking. Barry ended up talking first, "well, it just never came up I guess. We've been together for about one and a half years now."

The group didn't really think twice about that answer, and just proceeded to ask them even more questions, 'how'd you two meet?' 'do you live togeather?' 'is that a Russian accent, or what?' 'do your familys know?' 'why didn't Hank go to the previous plays?' and so on and so forth.

"Actors! Great performance out there tonight." Gene said, coming up from behind the group that was crowding the exit. "Who are you?" Gene questioned looking at Hank.

"I am Hank, Barry's boyfriend," Hank said pointing at Barry, then reaching to shake Gene's hand.

"Ah! The ever famous Hank, Barry has told me a lot about you." Gene said shaking his hand back.

Hank chuckled, "Has he! Good things I hope."

"Wait a second," Sally spoke up, "Gene knew all along?"

"Oh definatly, I remember a year ago or so, Barry came to class grinning from year to ear. I thought 'hmm that's strange behavior from him', so I asked him, 'whats got you so happy?' and it was like I opened the flood gates. Man oh man, he never shuts up about you."

Hanks face broke out in a giant smile, "AWW, that is fucking adorable of you, babe." he said looking up at Barry who was as red as Bob the Tomato.

\--------------------

Once Barry and Hank got into the car they both let out a long breath.

"Well that was interesting to say the least," Barry said, giving Hank a kiss on the cheek before starting the car.

Hank raised an eyebrow, "not sharpest bulbs in the batch, I'll admit, but they seem nice." He said Chuckling. "Now what's this I hear of you mentioning me to your teacher?" 

Barry nervously laughed, "thats-ya'know, that only happened like a handful of times," he gave Hank a guilty side eye, "...Okay maybe more than a handful, but I can't very well gush about you, to you."

"Oh the hell you can. Come on, lets go home to eat cookies so I can hear all of the gushing." Hank ordered, giving Barry a pat on the leg.

So that's what they did.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for getting this far! Hope you liked it!


End file.
